


Falling For You

by Ahria



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Community: 7snogs, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, Missing Scene, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-17
Packaged: 2017-11-27 20:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahria/pseuds/Ahria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven semi-connected drabbles that take place throughout the Slayers anime series.  Written for the 7snogs community on livejournal, using prompt set three (the double night challenge).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reflection

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Reflection
> 
> Set at the end of s1e15, "OH NO! Lina's Wedding Rhapsody?"

Lina had complained about losing her reward money for at least another half hour as evening faded into night.  Amelia had distracted her with a question about magic.  Unable to resist one of her favorite subjects, the sorceress launched into a complicated and detailed answer.

Not even pretending to be interested, Gourry tuned out the girls’ conversation, his thoughts drifting to the events of the last two days.  He’d been the one to encourage Lina to take the job and fake-marry that rich guy.  At first it had seemed like easy money and it wasn’t like it was a real wedding.  Everything had been going according to plan, too, until the audience expected Lina to kiss Hallis.  It wasn’t until right in that moment that Gourry realized he really didn’t want anyone kissing Lina.  It had seriously caught him off guard. 

While the crowd cheered the couple on, Gourry was studying Lina’s face.  He knew her decision would tell him something important about her, even if he couldn’t articulate exactly what that something was. 

He watched her consider the money as Hallis leaned in close, annoyingly eager.  At the last moment she kicked him in the face, sending the man across the room.  Gourry couldn’t help his pleased grin as that rich brat bounced off the wall.  He glanced back at Lina, looking indignant and beautiful, and something within him shifted.  Then everything had gone to hell and he hadn’t had time to think about it.

As he watched her talk to Amelia, her whole body moving excitedly, Gourry realized he was in serious trouble.  He leaned his head back against the wagon and stared up at the stars, resolutely deciding not to think about it anymore.


	2. Crackle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Crackle
> 
> Set after the events of Slayers: Next.

There is uncontrollable, bone-deep terror devouring her from the inside out.  There is magic in her hands, sinking into her skin, weighing her down until she can’t even breathe.

Her arms tremble and her lungs ache but the spell holds, a sphere of burning ebony between her outstretched palms.

There is one moment of devastating, treacherous hope.

Hellmaster’s power bursts through her body, a thousand tiny needles that shred skin and bone and all she can do is scream. 

There is unbearable pain and she knows she is going to die.

She tries to find Gourry’s face but she can’t see him and she certainly can’t save him.  Her own spell crashes down around her and burns her soul away.

There is only darkness.

*

Lina awakes screaming, Gourry’s panicked face hovering above her own.  Gently he wipes away her tears.

“Hey.” She croaks and tries to smile.  She can tell from the look on his face that it didn’t come close.

With his help, she sits up slowly.  She wraps her fingers around his wrist and they sit in silence for a long time.

Gourry never asks about her nightmares.  Instead, he waits until her breathing evens out and the trembling stops before pulling her into his arms.  He coaxes her into lying down, head pillowed against his chest as he rubs small, soothing circles into her back.

Lina pretends she can’t feel the kisses he presses against her hair.  She listens to the snap and crackle of the fire, counts his heartbeats and waits for dawn.


	3. Anxious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Anxious
> 
> Set after episode 18 of Slayers: Try, after the group is reunited.

It had been a long week.  A ridiculously long week, actually.  Between crazy theme parks, ghost ships and wondering where the hell the rest of her friend’s were Lina had barely slept.  At least the group had been reunited and Valgaav hadn’t show up again.  It seemed like everything was finally settling down.

They’d even found an inn where everyone could have their own rooms.  Solitude wasn’t exactly what Lina wanted at the moment but she took comfort in knowing that Gourry- and Amelia too- were resting safely just down the hall, that their week apart hadn’t been that bad.

The sorceress threw her clothes in the general direction of the corner and pulled on the inn provided pajamas.  She’d barely finished the last button when someone knocked on her door.

“Lina?” Gourry called before she could ask who it was.  Perplexed, she opened the door and stood aside as he entered. 

“Is everything ok?” she asked as she closed the door and turned to face him.  “We have an early morning, so-“

Gourry was suddenly too close, arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her tightly against his chest.  She froze, words stopped dead in her throat.  His week must have been worse then she’d thought.  Slowly, she raised her own arms to encircle his neck.

“I thought you were dead, Lina, for a whole week.”

“Oh, Gourry.” She murmured and pulled back just enough to see his face.  “I’m sorry.  For the first few hours I was alone, I was on the verge of a panic attack.  That weird theme park didn’t help any, but…” she trailed off and sighed, pressing her forehead against his shoulder.  “Filia promised you were ok, so I didn’t have to worry long.  I would have gone crazy if I hadn’t known all week.”

They held each other in silence for a few more minutes before Gourry released her and backed away. 

“You were worried about me?” Gourry asked teasingly.

“You wish.” She snorted and rolled her eyes, ignoring his butterfly-inducing grin.

“I’m glad you’re ok.” He said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.  He tried not to chuckle at the mild panic on her face as he strolled to the door.  “See you in the morning.”

Dumbfounded, she nodded until he was gone.  She stood in place for a long moment wondering how exactly she was going to be able to pretend that had never happened.


	4. Soak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Soak
> 
> Set just before the beginning of Slayers: Revolution.

It was one of those freak storms that appeared out of nowhere, drenching innocent bystanders to the bone in a matter of seconds.  Eventually they’d spotted a cave and gotten out of the down pour.  The water proofing on their travel packs had kept bedding and spare clothes reasonably dry, much to Lina’s relief. 

After the bedding was laid out there wasn’t much extra room left so wet clothes were dumped in a pile near the entrance to be dried later. 

As the sun set they sat in a companionable silence, munching on travel provisions.   Listening to the rain, Lina let her mind wander.  Idly, she thought of Rowdy and wondered how his life had unfolded.  Had Meliroon’s people accepted their union?  Had they been happy?  She liked to think the answer was yes on both counts.

She almost asked Gourry but resisted the urge.  Even if the idiot did know, asking would break their tacit agreement of never inquiring about the other’s past.  She wasn’t sure how that had come about- she certainly didn’t have anything to hide- but she didn’t want to mess with it now.

She studied Gourry for a moment, searching for pieces of Rowdy and Meliroon in his face. Lina wondered if he even knew he had Elvin blood in his family line.

“You’re thinking too hard.” The swordsman said suddenly.

“What?”

He scooted over until his shoulder bumped hers and then poked her in the forehead.

“You get a wrinkle there when you think too hard.” He replied.

“It’s nothing important.  Just thinking about a guy I met once.”

His smile tightened.

“A guy, huh?”

“I helped him out of a pinch.  It was a long time ago.”

“Did you and he-“ he paused, trying to keep his voice light.  “Were you two close?”

“Not at all.” She said, raising a questioning eyebrow.  Thinly veiled relief flooded his face. 

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were jealous.” She said with a laugh, bumping his shoulder with her own.

“Of course I’m jealous.” He replied, not meeting her eyes.  Silence passed and he smiled nervously in her general direction before moving to stand.  Lina grabbed his arm before he managed it, holding him in place as she leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to his mouth. 

Bright red, she whispered “You have nothing to be jealous over.”

His hands moved to cup her face but she hopped to her feet and moved out of his grasp.

“Goodnight.” She mumbled as she slid into her bed roll, back to him.

Lina did her best to fight off the panic attack blooming in her chest while staring at the stone wall.  Slowly she rolled over and studied Gourry’s profile.  He was lounging against the wall, staring out at the rain with a soft smile on his face. 

She watched him for a while, letting the panic ebb and be replaced by contentment.  As she closed her eyes and began to drift to sleep, she thought maybe someday she should thank Naga for dragging her to that stupid island in the first place.


	5. Restless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Restless
> 
> Set inbetween episodes 9 and 10 of Slayers: Evolution-R

Lina sighed, fingers tapping against her knee.  She and Pokota had been the only ones who wanted to keep going.  Everyone else had whined about their feet or their back or some other nonsense so they’d set up camp just before sunset.

Pokota was sulking despite Amelia’s best efforts to cheer him up.  Lina really couldn’t blame him.  Having the fate of an entire kingdom on his shoulders was a heavy burden and she’d want to shake it off as soon as possible too. 

She couldn’t stand sitting around doing nothing like this, not when the answers were so close at hand.  With a huff, she leapt to her feet and announced, “I’m going to get firewood.”

“I’ll help.” Gourry volunteered and followed her towards the woods.  They walked in silence for a few minutes, a light spell floating above them.

“You could have told me to stay behind, you know.” Gourry said casually.

“What?  Why?”

“If you wanted time to yourself.  You seem distracted today.”

“Oh.  No, it’s not like that.  I just didn’t want to sit still anymore.  Had to do something.”

“You’re ready for this all to be over, aren’t you?” he asked as they came to a stop.  She’d stopped being unnerved by his insights into her thoughts years ago.  She turned to face him.

“More then you know.  Now that Rezo’s involved…” she trailed off, shaking her head. 

“We’ll be fine.” He assured her, taking a step closer.  “We always are.”

She nodded, doing her best to shake away the feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach the second they’d found the Hellmaster’s jar.     

When she looked up at him again, his eyes were on her face, expression soft.  Her breath caught in her throat.

With deliberate slowness, Gourry’s hands curled around her hips and pulled her close.  He leaned in, mouth hovering a breath from hers.  She moved to cover the distance. 

Lina let every thought in her head drift away as her lips parted against his, her arms encircling his neck. 

She wasn’t really sure how much time had passed when he broke away to press kisses down the side of her throat, giving her just long enough to think.

“Wait, wait.” She said, pressing her palms flat against his chest.  He pulled back enough to look at her, his expression carefully guarded.

“I can’t do this right now.” She whispered.

His hands dropped away from her body.

“We love each other, Lina.  I’m tired of pretending we don’t.”

“I know.” She cupped his face in her hands.  “I really do… but we have an entire kingdom to save _and_ we have to figure out what Rezo’s up to.  Nothing good ever happens when he’s involved.”  She took a deep breath and released him.  “This is going to get bad, _really bad_ , before it gets better and I can’t get distracted right now.  There’s too much at stake.”

As he studied her face, Lina wondered if he could see the fear she tried so hard to keep locked in the back of her mind.

He sighed deeply in resignation.

“So, when this is all over…” he trailed off, uncertain.

“The second this over, I promise things will be different.”

“It’s a deal.” He said finally, pulling her back into his arms and kissing her one more time, his lips warm and lingering against hers.


	6. Consume

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Consume
> 
> Missing scene at the end of the last episode of Slayers: Evolution-R

Lina hurled the spell at Shabrinigdo, the power taking the last of her strength with it.  The world tilted and her body hit the ground.  She knew it wasn’t a good thing that she hadn’t felt the impact but was thankful for it anyway.  In fact, she couldn’t feel her body at all.  She wondered when her eyes had closed and tried not to worry that she couldn’t open them again.  It’s wasn’t like she was dead.  Probably.  She figured she’d know somehow if she were dead.  The spell had fired perfectly and she was positive she hadn’t destroyed the world.  With a sigh, she let herself stop thinking and drift away into unconsciousness.

*

Gourry watched the power burst out of Lina, saw the color drain from her hair just before she fell to the ground.  Ignoring his pain and fatigue, he dragged himself towards her.  He stumbled, half crawling up the stone incline.  The last time the spell had worked her hair had turned white and she’d been fine.  He needed her to be fine this time too. Doubt and fear clawed at his thoughts but he pushed them away, focusing on Lina’s still form.

“Lina.” He called, checking her breath and making sure her heart was beating.  Relieved, he tucked her prone form against his side, shielding her from the raging wind.  “Lina.” He said again, voice lost amongst the cacophony of sound.  He cupped her face, wiping away remnants of her tears with his thumps.  “I need you.” He thought and whispered and prayed.  “ _I need you._ ”

With the tremulous sky above them and the howls of a dying demon lord surrounding them, Gourry leaned down and kissed her.

*

Warm hands caressed her face, pulling her out of the void.  Gourry’s voice washed over her, a whispered confession that touched her heart and filled her eyes with tears anew.  She gasped when he kissed her, mouth opening just enough so that he could slide his tongue in.  Heat sparked through her, body arching against his.  Her hands tangled in his hair, pulling him even closer.  The tips of his fingers slid under the hem of her tunic, grazing her skin.  She moaned into his mouth and Gourry froze, the time and place coming back to him. 

Gently he broke away, lowering her back to the ground.  Breathless, Lina’s eyes fluttered open and a brilliant smile graced her features.  A break in the black clouds caught Gourry’s attention for a moment before looking back at her, returning her smile.

“You did it, Lina.” He told her.

“Yeah, “ she replied softly, raising her hand to brush his cheek.  “We did.”


	7. Mirth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Mirth
> 
> This takes place post-series.
> 
> This is my final entry for this claim. I hope you enjoyed them!

Lina opened the window, pausing a moment to let the cool night air rush over her skin, before sitting on the floor and dumping out her pack.  Reorganization was long overdue.  She hummed a little to herself as she folded, enjoying the scent of oil as Gourry polished his sword.

“Have you ever cast a love spell?” Gourry asked suddenly. 

She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“No way.  Love spells are gross.”

“Why?’

“Let’s say I was going to cast a love spell,” Lina began, launching into full lecture mode.  “First, I’d need something of the intended victim’s.  Blood, spit, hair, nail clippings- things like that.  Blood would be best but the others would work.”

Gourry grimaced a little, imagining having to handle someone’s bodily fluids and nodded at her to continue.

“So even if I managed to get one of those things and cast the spell- which would a pain, by the way because I’d have to force my will on someone else and hope I was stronger then he was- the victim would probably go crazy anyway.”

“Would that mean the spell went wrong?”

“Not exactly.  Most of the time, it sort of works too well.  I’ve heard this story a hundred different times, even seen it happen a couple times.  Girl loves Boy, he doesn’t love her back so she casts a love spell.  Everything is great at first and Girl is so happy.  Then, Boy has to spend every second with her.  He won’t let her out of his sight.  He starts threatening anyone who talks to her because he thinks they’re trying to steal her away.  In the end he tries to kill someone he sees as a rival, or he tries to kill her so no one can ever take her away.”

Gourry wiped his hands on a rag as he stood.  He made his way across the room and settled on the ground behind her, a leg on either side of her body.  She scooted backwards until her back bumped his chest.

“I don’t understand how anyone could do that to someone they love.” He said finally, gently rubbing her back.

“Well, that’s sort of the point.  It isn’t really love.  It’s the closest approximation that magic can create.  It’s born out of the caster’s own will so their ideas, their romantic fantasies are shoved in the victim’s head and magic forces the victim to act them out.”

He nodded , thinking it over as she leaned against him against him.

“You know, none of that is the worst part.” She murmured.

“I think going crazy and trying to kill people seems pretty bad.” He said.

“The worst part is how desperate someone has to be to want that.  They know it won’t be real.  The whole time, through every touch and every kiss, they _know_ it’s fake, but they do it anyway.” She shrugged.  “I can’t imagine feeling that alone.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his cheek against hers, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“Why’d you ask, anyway?”

“Oh yeah!  While I was waiting for you outside that magic shop, an old woman came up and told me she’d cast a love spell for me on anyone I wanted.”

“What a third rate sorceress.” She grumbled, pulling away and reaching towards her pile of clothes.  He smiled as he released her and leaned back against the bed.

“I was wondering if it was easy and you could make so much money, why I’ve never seen you do it.”

“How much money?”

“She wanted five hundred gold pieces.”

Lina spun around to stare at him, mouth slightly agape.

“That’s robbery!” she exclaimed.  “It’s not _that_ hard of a spell.”

He nodded in agreement, unable to keep from laughing at her outrage.

“Besides, even if I didn’t have a moral objection, my big sister would track me down and kill me.”

“Hey, give me some credit here.” He protested, drawing her close once more and pressing a kiss to her jaw.  “I wouldn’t let her _kill_ you.”

“Like you could stop her.” She snorted.  Gourry chuckled and kissed the corner of her mouth, lingering a moment as her fingers curled into his tunic.

“Hey,” she started, pulling away enough to look at him.  “What did you tell that witch after she asked?”

“The truth.” He replied, all wide-eyed innocence.

“Which is?” she demanded.

“That my wife took all my money.”


End file.
